Consumers burning their lips, tongue, mouth, arms, legs, and torso from hot coffee, tea and other beverages continues to be a problem. The principal source of such scaldings have been believed to be scalding hot liquid in combination with lid, cup, or lid/cup sets that are designed allow drinking through the lid while retain heat.
Change in this field has been slow. The first beverage lid that allowed consumption of the liquid without removing the top was originally invented by Roy Irvin Stubblefield in 1934 (U.S. Pat. No. 2,003,657). The liquid was drawn through a slit depressed by the consumer's mouth. It wasn't until more than thirty years later that the first major improvement was made by Alan Frank, who invented the peel back opening in 1967 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,421,681A). It took another decade before the next major improvement, namely a tab to hold the Frank's peeled back opening so it didn't have to be torn off or held open (U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,411A).
What followed since then are dozens of variations on the Stubblefeld's lid, offering a wide variety of configurations, from the dome lid, to re-closeable drinking openings, to temperature sensing, specialized labeling, and even a number of complicated attempts at providing a cooling capability.
The most economical of existing lids is typically manufactured with two openings—the drinking opening and the vent opening. The vent opening is usually pin-sized and placed substantially in the middle of the lid, but may be found elsewhere on the lid. It is made purposefully small in order to serve the three purposes of syphoning the outside air into the container to replace the consumed beverage, preventing spillage, and as pressure release if the drinking opening is plugged.
It is undisputed that even with conventional lids the user is able to cool down the beverage by blowing outside air into the drinking opening. However, most of the high-humidity air merely swirls around the surface of the beverage and remains inside the container, which has a nominal effect on cooling down the beverage.
Other prior art directed towards solving the problem of cooling down hot beverages include: Reservoir cooling; heat transfer at the point of consumption; bellows cooling; and ridge cooling.
Reservoir cooling suffers firstly, from requiring the beverage to initially escape from the inner portion of the container, thereby creating a possibility of spillage as there is nothing to prevent overflow. Secondly, the reservoir can only hold a small amount of fluid, which means that the invention would have no effect on the temperature of the consumed beverage if the user sipped in more fluid than the volume of the reservoir. Thirdly, the container needs to be constantly tipped upward, which is both impractical and dangerous in driving applications. And fourthly, the process of manufacture is significantly more complicated and costly. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,390 B1, US20060037962 A1, US20090108006 A1, US20090108006 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 8,267,275 B2, US20120080441 A1, WO2009055067 A2, WO2004047596 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 8,459,491 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 6,488,173 B2.
Heat transfer at the point of consumption cooling suffers firstly, from the fluid consumed during the initial stage of each sip cannot be sufficiently cooled as the cooling airflow is yet to be drawn over the liquid. Secondly, the hot vapor is directed towards the consumer's mouth, rather than in the opposite direction, which can amplify the scalding effect of the hot beverage. See U.S. Pat. No. 7,185,781, U.S. Pat. No. D704,054 S, U.S. Pat. No. 8,881,938 B2, US20140042178 Al.
Bellows cooling suffers firstly, from a mechanically complex device, which significantly increases the cost of manufacturing. Secondly, it is bulky, which, in turn, negatively affects the cost of stacking, storage and transportation. And thirdly, and more importantly, the device is unsafe for driving applications as it requires the user to use both hands: one hand to hold the cup and the other to push the bellows. See U.S. Pat. No. 8,322,562 B2.
Ridge cooling suffers firstly, from a mechanically complex device, which increases the cost of manufacturing. Secondly, the invention comprises a protruding lip which extends beyond the dimensions of the cup, causing an unconventional displacement when in daily use. See US20080217345 A1.
See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,929,143 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,727 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,569 A, US2007/0075080 Al, none of which provide a cooling mechanism.